White Light
by Sir Maximus
Summary: A unlucky crew is forced to land on a Halo (not the one in the game). They find something much worse then the flood... Please R&R. Suggestions about plot and writting are also welcome.
1. Entry

The events in White Light take place at the same time as the events in Halo. If you have played Halo, you may remember that the Monitor mentions that there are other Halos. This is the account of a Military squad that had the bad luck to run into one.  
  
Chapter 1 Entry  
  
Outer Tricri Meteor Ring  
  
1000 hours before contact  
  
Whiskey. Is their anything better in the world? To Captain Pulmer, the answer was no. It was his water, his life. So he was understandably upset when his ship suddenly took a dive, spilling the contents of his glass everywhere. "Shit" He turned to his speaker. "Damn it, Freeman, I told you to make it a smooth ride!"  
  
"Sir, we have multiple Covenant contacts! I make out three ships, maybe more. The interference from the meteors has sent all the systems to hell."  
  
"Shit!" Pulmer slammed the table with his fists, causing the remaining bottles to topple over. "Shit!"  
  
"Captain, are you all right?"  
  
"No I'm not all right, my god damn whiskey spilled."  
  
"Sir?"  
  
"What is it now?"  
  
"The Covenant?"  
  
"Oh right. How many turrets are left?"  
  
"Standby, running a systems check. I see three-" an explosion rocked the ship. "Make that two left."  
  
"Ammo supply?"  
  
"Full."  
  
"Alright, I want both turrets to have men on them now. Tell them to target the thrusters. I want men positioned at every entrance to the ship. Make sure none of those bastards get in. And please send someone to get me some whiskey."  
  
Outer Tricri Meteor Ring  
  
0900 hours before contact  
  
Voice Diary of Walter Freeman  
  
The covenant have been hitting us pretty hard for the past hour. The Captains too drunk to notice. I don't think any of us are going to survive this.  
  
The two turrets we have left are running out of ammo. We managed to take on ship out, but two move arrived. These bastards just keep coming.  
  
We found a strange ring like object. I'm going to land on it, it might be our last hope. I'm going to land in the artic part of the ring. We might be able to lose the Covenant there.  
  
Walter Freeman, Pilot of the Stomchaser, Outer Tricri Meteor Ring.  
  
So ends chapter 1. I'm sorry about the length, the others will be much longer. 


	2. Contact

Chapter 2 Contact  
  
Artic Region  
  
0700 hours before contact  
  
"Fuck a duck." Freeman stared at the ship. Or rather, the remains of it. The ship had taken a lot of damage during the landing. It wasn't Freeman's fault, really. The meteor storm had knocked out the entry shield, and this ship wasn't designed for artic climates. It didn't even have a snow filter on the windshield.  
  
"Where the hell did you learn to fly?" Freeman jumped sky high. He had forgotten he wasn't the only on here. He took a moment to catch his breath. "I said, where the hell did you learn to fly?"  
  
"Flight school, the same place they taught me never to land without a entry shield or in harsh climates without proper filters."  
  
"Are you getting' smart with me?" Freeman turned to face the man.  
  
"Why yes, Ladle, and what are you going to do about it?"  
  
"You will address me as sir at all times. Now try that sentence again, and get it right this time before I report your ass."  
  
"Report to who, the passed out captain?" Ladle lunched at him, lifting Freeman off the floor as easily as someone might pick up a coffee cup.  
  
"I'm second in command of this ship, and you will do as I say! Is that clear?" Freeman said nothing. "Is that clear?"  
  
"I think you're choking him" Ladle turned around, still holding Freeman in his grasp.  
  
"Who the hell are you?"  
  
"Johns Gunn. That's gun with two n's. I'm the newest member of this crew."  
  
"Sticking up for your comrades. That could get you hurt. Or worse."  
  
"I don't really care what you do to him. I just want to point out that he is our only pilot and if you kill him, we're stranded." Ladle thought for a second, then released Freeman. He fell to the floor and went into a coughing fit. He managed to squeeze out a thank you.  
  
"Thank me later, we got work to do. We need to round up the crew. Do you know how many managed to e-vac before the crash?"  
  
"All." was all Freeman could manage.  
  
"Right. I'll activate the locator. What about the captain, where is he?"  
  
"I'm here. And my hangover is too. Only question is, where is here?"  
  
Artic Region  
  
0630 hours before contact  
  
"We need to find shelter." No one knew who said it, everyone agreed.  
  
"I might be able to fix up the warthog. Don't know if it will stay above the snow though."  
  
"We might as well try."  
  
"Maybe we should send a search party."  
  
"Maybe we should stay put." Arguments broke out among the group.  
  
"Quiet!" Pulmer yelled. "I got a huge God damn hangover and this ain't helping." No one spoke. "Freeman, I need you to make a rough map of this ring, based on what we saw before the crash. Then try to find out where we are. I want the engineers to fix up the warthogs. The rest of you, set up the emergency tents. And try to keep the noise down."  
  
About thirty minutes later, everything was set up.  
  
"Sir, the camp is up and running." one of the privates said. "What are our next orders?"  
  
"Hit the sack. I know everyone's tired. Regular guard rotation."  
  
"Sir, yes sir!"  
  
Artic Region  
  
0200 hours before contact  
  
"Rise and sine everyone!" A universal groan could be heard across the camp.  
  
"We never should have given him that mega phone." Johns said  
  
"It was your idea" Freeman replied.  
  
"We leave in one hour!" More groans.  
  
"Sir, I think it might be wise to give the troops and extra half hour. They have been though a lot." Ladle suggested.  
  
"We leave in one hour and that's final!"  
  
One hour and thirty minutes later, the crew left the camp. Well, technically they took the camp with them.  
  
"Go this way for about two hours, and we should be somewhere a lot warmer!" Freeman had to yell over the sound of the engines."  
  
"The climates change that drastically?" Pulmer yelled back.  
  
"Yeah! Its almost like a wall! Its cold one second and then balm! You're in paradise!" Suddenly, the two warthogs ahead came to a screeching halt. The driver had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting them. One of the passengers ran out to them.  
  
"Sir! We found a base!"  
  
Military Research Post Number 456  
  
0030 hours before contact  
  
"One hundred years."  
  
"Nah, more like two hundred."  
  
"One fifty, tops."  
  
"Who gives a damn how old it is, lets go inside! I'm freezing out here!" The crew ran inside. Only Ladle remained outside.  
  
"This is a bad idea. We should stay on track. First rule of the Soldiers Handbook."  
  
"Common Ladle, stop being so paranoid. What could be in here that is remotely bad? Spoiled food?" Freeman teased.  
  
"I'm not going in."  
"Fine. Stay out in the cold. If you want to come in, the door's always open."  
  
Military Research Post Number 456  
  
Contact  
  
"Holy Shit!" Everyone stopped what they were doing an ran over to see what the commotion was about. "Look at him! He has holes driven clear though his body!"  
  
"What the hell happened here?" The crew didn't have time to wonder.  
  
Ladle's screams echoed through the halls. Freeman lead the race to the front door where they found Ladle standing, half dead with a hole punched through his body. They watched in horror as another appeared at his heart, his arm, and then his head. He stood for a moment, then fell over in a fountain of blood.  
  
It took the team less then one minute to lock every door and window. Funny how fast people move when motivated by fear.  
  
"Jesus Christ."  
  
"No body panic. We locked all the doors, we're safe in here." Freeman said, although he was most certainly panicking.  
  
"Did anybody lock the cellar?"  
  
To be continued… 


	3. Research Post

This is something of an explanation chapter, with a few twists at the end… I would also like to have someone to "beta read". If your interested, e-mail me (esfrsbcglobal.net). And now, lets start chapter 3.  
  
Chapter 3 Research Post  
  
Military Research Post Number 456  
  
0100 hours after contact  
  
Voice Diary of Johns Gunn  
  
Everything's gone to hell. We're all going to die. There's only so long we can stay boarded up in here. The Doc's got some idea of what's going on, but-  
  
ERROR Out of record space.  
  
Military Research Post Number 456  
  
0101 hours after contact  
  
Gunn listened to the prerecorded voice tell him he was out of space. Talking to him like he was an idiot. "You need to delete older files before recording more."  
  
"No shit, Sherlock." Gunn had always wondered who Sherlock was. He vaguely remembered his mom saying something about being a detective. Gunn pushed those thoughts out of his mind. He needed to focus.  
  
"Hey! You almost done in there? Other people need to piss too! Unless, you're not pissing…" someone yelled from the other side of the door.  
  
"Fuck off!"  
  
"I thought that was what you were doing."  
  
Gunn saved his breath. He pretended to flush the toilet and wash his hands, and the walked out and headed toward the dinning room. Everyone was quiet and tense. He spotted Freeman and went to him.  
  
"Everyone's tense."  
  
"You are too. By the way, you should try to control your temper." It took Gunn a second to realize what he was talking about.  
  
"You heard?"  
  
"The whole building heard. Amazing how Jenkins can be such a immature jackass at a time like this." Gunn made a note to remember the name.  
  
"Alright listen up! We have enough rifles for half the men. That means you are to get a buddy and stick with him!" Pulmer ordered. He turned to Freeman. "Come with me. There's something I want to show you." Freeman and Gunn got up. "No. Only Freeman."  
  
"Sir, he's my buddy and by your own rules he has to come." Pulmer grumbled but didn't say anything. He lead the pair through a series of halls, until they came to a room filled with computers. Doc was sitting in a chair, busily typing away.  
  
"Gunn, I don't believe you know Doc, our know it all brainiac." Gunn said hello and Doc, without turning his head, returned the greeting. "Did you find the rest of the file?" Pulmer inquired.  
  
"No, but the part we have is good enough."  
  
"Mind showing it to us?" Doc hit a few keys and the file came up. Freeman and Gunn looked at the file. Neither could understand anything in it. Pulmer, seeing their confusion, came to their aid. Sort of.  
  
"Doc, could you explain all this to them? I'm going to get some whiskey."  
  
"No problem." Pulmer ran off. "What part don't you understand?" Doc asked.  
  
"All of it."  
  
"Well, Ill start at the beginning. What we are dealing with is a creature called White Light."  
  
"Isn't white light a combination of all the colors?"  
  
"Indeed. You see in color because light is absorbed by an object. The colors that aren't absorbed bounce back at your eyes, hence creating color."  
  
"What does that have to do with all of this?"  
  
"I'm getting there. What these creatures can do is absorb all light, and choose which color to bounce back."  
  
"Like a chameleon?"  
  
"No. The White Light can change their color so perfectly, they become invisible. In fact, The only way to see them is by using something that registers heat signals. I've already swept the building, and there aren't any in here. Looks like we shut the cellar in time." Freeman didn't want to think of what could have happened if they didn't. "That's not even the worst part. Remember what happened to Ladle? The White Light don't have arms. They have organic drills, capable of slamming through steel."  
  
"Why haven't they broken in yet?"  
  
"Who knows? There must be at least a hundred of them. Just be glad they hav-" A sound rang through the halls. The sound of metal breaking.  
  
"Holy shit! Doc print that file and lets get the hell out of here!" Freeman and Gunn started to run down the hall.  
  
"You'll need these!" Doc shouted. He tossed a pair of goggles to them. "Press the switch on the left to activate them!"  
  
"What are they?"  
  
"Infrared! Use them!" the pair obeyed and ran off to the dinning hall. This task was made hard by the fact that walls gave off almost no heat. Everyone in the dinning room was fleeing to the warthogs. People were dropping like flys, and only Freeman and Gun could see what was happening. Doc had been wrong about there being one hundred White Light. There must have been a thousand, all off them flooding in through holes in the wall. Doc's voice could be heard over the loud speaker.  
  
"Get to the warthogs now if you value your life! Remember to-" The voice was cut off. A few groans could be heard, and then nothing.  
  
"Doc!" Freeman started to run back.  
  
"He's dead! Lets get out of here." Gunn said. Freeman unwillingly went with him. They dashed toward the exit. They were almost there. Thirty feet. Twenty Feet. Ten feet… Then Murphy's law took over. Gunn tripped. The White Light, seeing an easy kill, dove for him. Freeman turned back just in time to see Gunn's lifeless body on the floor, filled with holes. The world seemed to stop. Everything paused as Freeman closed his eyes. If I can't see it, its not real he thought. When he opened his eyes again, Gunn's body was still on the floor. And fifty or so White Light surrounded him. 


End file.
